A Walk in the Park

Yesterday we said good-bye to Zhengzhou and hello to Guangzhou. Our flight was smooth and on time. The Zak-man was excited to fly, his first time on an airplane. When we took off he was glued to the window and was handing out big smiles. He did great.

Even though we still have 6 days in China, home feels close. We are in the final stretch and thankful to be at this point in our journey. Our guide informed us there is a Starbucks, Papa Johns, Subway and McDonald's all close to our hotel. We cheered. It is nice to be in a place that feels a little more like home. Guangzhou has more of a western feel and our hotel is filled with adopting families and other internationals making us feel like less of a minority.

The breakfast buffet was bustling this morning. The pancakes and french toast disappearing almost as fast as the chef could make them. The boys still managed to get their fill and gave the hotel breakfast two thumbs up.

There are two parks close to our hotel. And when I say park, I don't mean of the playground variety. The parks are large and the paths are winding. Filled with trees, bridges, beautiful landscape and amusement parks. They are beautiful.

The locals were busy playing all sorts of games, from ping pong to a type of hacky sack, to cards to badminton. It had a community feel, and while the boys complained of too much walking and Zak almost fell asleep in his stroller, I loved the meandering.

We walked for about an hour and only covered half of one park. We did let the boys go on one ride to rest their feet a bit. Plus, when we asked Zak if he wanted to ride the train, the smile he gave us was impossible to refuse.

Our walk through the park felt like an authentic glimpse of life in China, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed the time. Watching people of all ages interact, play, and watch us. There is another park on the other side of our hotel that is probably just as big.  We'll let the boys recover a bit before we cover that one.

The remainder of our day will include preparing paperwork for Zak's visa and a dinner out with our travel group. 

We are glad to be in Guangzhou, one day closer to home.